Savior
by xiluvrock145
Summary: It's reaping day. I can't believe the time has finally come. My name will go into the reaping ball with tons of other names. But as I am chosen, I realize that only one person can save me from the wraths of the Games. My sister, my savior: Katniss.


**A/N: Hey guys! This is a one-shot of the reaping from Prim's POV. I love Prim; she's a great character, but I feel as if she doesn't get enough fanfics written about her.**

**I had to give this a 'T' rating because I mentioned one or two lines about weapons and I think the whole 'reaping' thing deserves a 'T' anyway.**

Savior - A One-Shot

I'm running. Running for my life.

It's a sort of forest area, various trees next to me. I look down at myself and see that I'm wearing tribute clothing: loose pants, a vest, leather boots.

An unfamiliar, blond haired boy is standing several yards away from me. There's a scared expression in his eyes, as if his being pursued by an enraged rival. Suddenly, he notices me, watching him in distress. I can see his expression change when he notices that I can save him.

"Help me, Prim," he mouths frantically.

But I am frozen in my place. I try to reach for the bow and arrows at my feet to defend this boy, but I can't make my hands move fast enough.

By then, it is too late. The spear enters the boy's body and he collapses to the ground, blood spattering the flat terrain surrounding him.

A scream pierces the air around us, giving away our location to any other enemies in the area. I realize with a shock that it belongs to me. I'm so dead.

* * *

I open my eyes with a start. The lush, green forest is gone. I am in my home, curled up next to my mother and my cat, Buttercup.

_Whew, _I think. _It was just a nightmare._

I roll over in my cot. My mother is still fast asleep, but I think my rolling is starting to wake her up. I quickly freeze in place, trying to avoid waking her. Let my mother sleep. She needs all the sleep she can get.

I can see by the clock on the wall that it's nine o'clock. I might as well go back to sleep; get a few more hours of rest. The reaping is today, not until two though. But after some consideration, I decide to just stay awake.

Looking over at my sister's bed, I see that she's already gone. Probably off in the woods with her friend Gale. Catching some game for tonight's festivities. After the reaping, everyone's supposed to celebrate. Not me, though. The whole reaping thing is not worth a celebration.

I also realize that the cheese I set out last night as a gift for them is also gone. I smile. I hope she and Gale had a good breakfast together.

I walk into the bathroom to wash my face and brush my teeth. My father's shaving mirror is leaned up against the wall, untouched and forgotten. I haven't forgotten it, though. I still polish it every night.

I admit that I am nervous. After all, it is my first reaping ever. But Katniss has reassured me that I will be fine. My name is only entered one time, because she refused to let me take any tesserae, but hers is entered twenty times. Now that I think more and more about it, I should be more afraid for her instead of myself.

First off, my reaping clothes. What I am to wear? Maybe my mother can help me with this problem.

"Mother?" I whisper, walking back into our room. "Mother, wake up."

"Huh?" my mother rolls over and opens her eyes. "Oh, Prim, it's you. Good morning."

"Good morning," I reply, smiling.

My mother always makes me feel better. About four years ago, she went into this semi-permanent depression, caused by my father's death. But now, she has slowly regained herself. Today, her health is doing better. She's back up on her apothecary shop and she's much better than before.

"Mother, it's reaping day," I say. "I need to find something to wear."

My mother's smile disappears. "Oh, right. I forgot."

She walks over to the closet and rummages through the few fancy clothes we all own. Most of Katniss's dresses were either handed down to me or sold after our father's death. I remember one of them, a beautiful red plaid one, that she wore on her first day of school. I haven't the slightest idea where it is now.

My mother turns back to me, holding a pretty knee-length skirt and a matching off-white blouse. "How about this, sweetie?" she asks me.

"Oh, Mother, it's beautiful!" I exclaim. "But are you sure it'll fit me? The shirt looks a little big in the back."

"Well, let's see," my mother says, and starts to help me dress into it.

After some careful adjusting and pinning, my mother has managed to make the blouse on me without much shifting. I look at myself in the mirror. I realize I look pretty. My mother has put my hair in a ponytail, and has lend me a pair of her old shoes, flat slip-ons. I'm pretty much ready.

"That was Katniss's first reaping outfit," my mother tells me in a soft tone.

"Wow," I whisper. There's something about that fact that makes me stand up a little taller and smile a little bigger.

"Okay, what are you going to wear?" I turn to ask my mother.

My mother answers by walking out of in the bathroom in a black dress, shining against her light skin. It's absolutely radiant. She's done her hair up too, and even managed to put on some makeup.

"I love it," I say with a grin.

"You look beautiful too, Prim," she says, wrapping my in a hug. "Come on, let's go wait for Katniss in the kitchen."

We go down to our kitchen and decide to cook a stew with whatever Katniss brings back from the Hob. Until then, all we can do is wait.

"Mother," I whisper. "I'm really nervous."

"Oh, sweetie," she smiles sympathetically. "It's alright. You'll be okay. You only have your name entered one time. The odds are in your favor that you won't be chosen."

"It's not just me, Mother. What about Katniss?" I fretfully run my hands along the seam of my skirt.

My mother looks pale. For once, she can't reassure me that Katniss will be fine. With twenty slips, Katniss may get chosen. "If Katniss is selected," she says carefully, "She may stand a chance of winning. She's very powerful, Prim. Nothing has ever slowed her down."

I think back to the times when Katniss showed up at our door, her hands filled with game and food from the Hob. My mother is right. Katniss has never stopped. She's kept us both alive.

The loud creak of our door opening wakes my out of my thoughts. The door slams shut and Katniss enters the room, carrying trades as usual.

"Hey," she nods at us before walking over to the pot in the corner and depositing some fish and greens into it for a stew.

Katniss has never really been the open type. She's always closed off and never likes talking very much. The opposite of me. When I have feelings, I can't stop discussing them. She's also not very dependent on our mother. In fact, she usually tries to avoid her at all costs.

"Katniss, come here." My mother leads her over to a tub of warm water and makes her clean herself. After that, I follow them as my mother shows her an old dress of hers, from her apothecary days. It comes with a pair of matching shoes. It's even more gorgeous than the one my mother is wearing right now.

"Are you sure?" Katniss asks, glancing at my mother curiously. The expression on her face tells me that she is hesitant to wear the dress.

"Of course. Let's put your hair up, too," she answers. My mother towel-dries my sister's delicate black hair and braids it up in a long braid on her head. I wait patiently as she steps into the bathroom to slide into her dress.

After I hear my mother sigh in content at Katniss's appearance, I walk into the bathroom to see my sister. I can hardly recognize her with the blue dress on.

"You look beautiful," I say, absolutely stunned.

"And nothing like myself," Katniss replies with a slight grin. She gives me a hug, and I can feel myself hugging her back. I know she's doing it to try to reassure me that I'll be fine, but ever since that creepy dream last night, I've never been quite the same.

I shudder as I think back on the dream. Who was that mysterious blond boy in the arena with me? He looked kind of familiar. I decide it was just a nightmare. Pre-reaping anxieties, probably.

Katniss smirks sisterly as she notices that my blouse has come undone from my skirt. "Tuck your tail in, little duck," she says, smoothing my blouse back in place.

I giggle at this. "Quack."

"Quack yourself," she responds with a light laugh, the kind only two people can draw out of her. Gale and me. "Come on, let's eat."

We save the fish and greens stew for tonight, as well as some strawberries and bakery bread that Katniss has brought back home. Instead, we eat some bread from our grain rations and drink some milk from my goat, Lady. No one's really that hungry anyway.

"Katniss, I'm nervous," I tell her when my mother's back is turned.

"Aw, Prim, don't be," she tells me. "It'll be over before you know it."

"I hope so," I mutter to myself.

* * *

At one o'clock, we head for the square, which is where the reaping is. It's a little busy already. Since I'm twelve and this is my first reaping, I am placed way in the back with the rest of the twelve-year-olds. I find myself next to Rory Hawthorne, Gale's little brother.

"Hey," he gives me a slight wave. Rory is nice enough, but we're not friends like Katniss and Gale are.

I nod back at him, since I'm under too much stress to wave. He reaches over and places his hand on my arm. That's when I can feel how much I'm trembling.

"It's alright," Rory tells me. "You'll be fine. Gale says reapings are not a big deal. In less than an hour, this will be over with."

But he's lying. It _is _a big deal. Two kids are being selected to die. It may not be me, but two kids from our district are going to die.

Before I know it, the clock is striking two and Mayor Undersee is walking up to the stage to start the reaping. He tells us about the boring history of Panem, rising from the ashes of North America, the Dark Days, blah, blah, blah. Can't we just get this over with already?

Luckily, pretty soon the mayor has introduced our past victor (we only have two total and one is dead) Haymitch Abernathy and before I know it he's hollering something incomprehensible and trying to hug our Capitol escort, Effie Trinket.

I have to laugh. Haymitch is always drunk like this, according to the whispers of the teenagers in the rows in front of me. The stifled laughter of the adults around us confirm this fact.

In an effort to get Haymitch away from the cameras, Mayor Undersee introduces Effie Trinket. She's a strange woman with a disturbing pinkish wig and an equally disturbing Capitol accent. She is the person assigned to District 12 for escorting our tributes to the Capitol. How sad is that job or what?

"Happy Hunger Games! And may the odds be _ever _in your favor!" she trills excitedly, before she skips over to the glass balls on the stage. One for the boys' names and one for the girls'. One tiny slip of paper in the girls' ball has Primrose Everdeen written on it in my sister's careful handwriting.

"Ladies first!" she continues in her uncanny accent. I watch wide-eyed as she reaches into the ball and pulls out the first skip on paper she can get her hands one.

I find myself gripping Rory's hand tightly as she opens the slip and reads the name out loud in an audible voice. You can pretty much hear a pin drop in the square.

"Primrose Everdeen," she says.

My nightmares have come true.

* * *

This can't be happening. My name was only in that stupid glass ball one time! Katniss made sure of that. Why couldn't it have been someone else? Anyone else, for crying out loud! Why me?

"Oh my," Rory whispers, immediately dropping my hand.

I am sure I look like I just saw a ghost as I make my way towards the stage. My hands curl themselves into tight fists and glue themselves to my sides, refusing to move. I take slow, taut steps towards the stage, refusing to look either direction. Just keep my eyes ahead.

The crowd is murmuring unhappily, because I, as a twelve-year-old, am chosen. No one thinks that this is fair. But, hey, if the lowest reaping age was, say, ten years old, would that be fair for the twelve year olds?

I am almost at the stage by now. I'm somewhere near the sixteen-year-olds, and I know Katniss is probably staring at me in pain. I can't believe I have to put her and my mother through this. Why must the Capitol do this to us?

"Prim!" the voice comes from my left. "Prim!"

What? Who is that? Is it my friend from school, Sylvie, trying to save me? Or maybe it's my mother, sobbing loud enough for the whole district to hear.

But when I turn around, it's none of the above. I find my sister Katniss running up to me, pushing me off to the side, her eyes ablaze with shock. Her dress lags behind her as she runs to me, her braided hair like a whip as it lashes through the air.

"I volunteer!" she gets out. "I volunteer as tribute!"

What in the sacred name of Panem is she doing? I was doing fine! Is she really going to sacrifice herself for my safety? She can't do this anymore. She's told me tons of stories about how she's hunted outside the district, searching for food for us. She already risks her life everyday for me. I can't take this anymore.

I begin to scream hysterically. "No, Katniss! No! You can't go!" I wrap my arms around her waist and continue yelling. "No!"

"Prim, let go," my sister says to me harshly. I immediate blink a bit because of the voice she uses. I've never heard my sister use that voice with me before. "Let go!" she repeats.

I feel myself suddenly being lifted into the air. I continue thrashing around, trying to free myself from this boy's grasp.

"Up you go, Catnip," the boy says in an unsteady voice. I blink again. It's Gale.

Gale! What is he _doing? _Can't he see that my sister is in danger and that I need to stop her? "No!" I continue yelling as he carries me off to my mother.

"Prim, shush," he orders me. "It's alright. You're okay."

I'm still whimpering when he puts me down next to my mother. I immediately feel my mother's arms wrap protectively around me. I stop crying and wipe my eyes on her dress. I realize that her dress is already starting to get wet with tears. She's been crying as well.

I look over at Katniss through my blurry eyes. She's standing up on stage next to Effie and looks about ready to cry as well. But I can tell by the way she stands and looks out at the audience that she refuses to let everyone see her tears.

Effie is already reaching into the boys' glass ball and pulling out a name. "Peeta Mellark."

_Whatever, _I think. Why do I care who the boy tribute is? My older sister is going to die! I let out another short sob.

But then I see him walk towards the stage, the fear evident in his eyes. The ashy blond hair, bright blue eyes. I know him. From where, though?

My mind dissolves as I realize from where.

_It's him. It's the boy from my dream. Katniss is going to have to kill that boy from my dream._

* * *

After the reaping, my mother and I are escorted into the Justice Building and permitted to go see my sister.

The second I see her, sitting on this cushiony velvet couch, I run straight into her arms and sit on her lap. She pulls me tight and I rest my head on her shoulder. I feel like I'm two years old again. Our mother joins us and hugs us both. For several minutes, no one says a word. Then Katniss begins speaking.

I am not to take any tesserae. We can get along by selling the milk from my goat Lady and running my mother's small apothecary business. Gale will help us by getting us herbs and game and we must compensate with some kind of trade, like medicine or milk.

I'm not surprised when Katniss doesn't suggest I join Gale in hunting. I'd be terrible at it. No one can top my sister and my late father's skills.

Then, to my surprise, my sister yells at my mother not to back out on me again.

"Listen to me. Are you listening to me?" Katniss is screaming. "You can't leave again."

My mother looks down. "I know. I won't. I couldn't help -"

"You can't clock out and leave Prim on her own. I won't be here to keep you both alive. It doesn't matter what happens to me. You just have to promise me you'll fight though it all!" Katniss is still obviously angry at her for leaving us.

My mother turns away. "I was ill. I could have treated myself if I had the medicine I have now."

"Then take it. And take care of her!" Katniss cries.

I clasp my sister's worn face in my hands. "I'll be alright, Katniss," I say gently. I don't know how to say that it's _her_ she should worry about. Then I remember my mother's words from this morning.

"But you have to take care, too," I continue. "You're so fast and brave. Maybe you can win."

Katniss glances at my mother quickly, then turns back to me. I can tell by her expression that she knows that she can't win. But I can't leave her by saying she's a failure. I'm better than that.

"Maybe," she says sadly, then smiles for my sake. "Then we'd be rich as Haymitch."

"I don't care if we're rich," I swallow a lump of spit that has gathered in the back of my throat. "I just want you to come home. You will try, won't you? Really, really try?"

Katniss lifts her head defiantly. "Really, really try. I swear it," she whispers in my ear, wrapping me and my mother in one last hug.

But then the Peacekeepers are here, standing at the door, glaring at us to get out. It's been over ten whole minutes.

"I love you," she keeps saying to us. "I love you both."

"I love you too," we both say back as the Peacekeepers drag us out the door. And then, my sister Katniss is gone.

On the walk back home, my mother and I say nothing. I realize I forgot to tell Katniss about the boy, Peeta Mellark, and how he was in my dream. There's no point in telling it now to my mother. It will only worry her.

Instead, I find myself in another one of my mother's bear hugs, holding me as if I'm the only thing she has left. Which, in fact, may not be too far from the truth.

* * *

**A/N: Ehh, was that too long or something? I just wanted to cover everything from the beginning of the book until Katniss leaves. Whatever. I hope you liked it. ;)**


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